The new season of PostClassical returns with an expanded, three-hour program exploring the search for Spanish identity through music. "Falla and Flamenco" features PostClassical Ensemble conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez. Spanish pianist Pedro Carbone joins Gil-Ordonez and co-hosts Bill McGlaughlin (host of Exploring Music) and author, music historian and PostClassical co-founder Joseph Horowitz. The first two hours focus on Manuel de Falla, with an expanded third hour devoted to Isaac Albeniz.
Listening Guide:
PART ONE:
00:00: Flamenco as a source for Spanish cultural identity
7:30: “Austerity” as the “essence” of Spanish music, distinguishing it from the French “Spanish” style.
10:48: Falla’s El Amor Brujo (excerpts) with PCE and flamenco cantaora Esperanza Fernandez
21:20: Commentary on Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain and “the birth of Spanish music”
26:32: Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain, movement one, with Pedro Carbone and PCE
44:45: Commentary on Nights, movements 2 and 3
49:44: Nights, movements 2 and 3, with Pedro Carbone and PCE
1:03:00: “The first Spanish tune”
PART TWO:
00:00: Falla’s Fantasia Betica and the “quest for authenticity”
12:41: Fantasia Betica, performed by Pedro Carbone
27:24: Artur Rubinstein and the Fantasia Betica
33:44: Falla and the challenge of modernism; cf Ives, Elgar, Sibelius; the Falla keyboard concerto as the “encapsulation of the history of Spanish music”
35:41: Discussion of the Falla concerto, movement 2 as a religious epiphany
38:59: Falla concerto, movement 2, performed by Pedro Carbone and PCE
49:50: Spanish religious austerity: Tomas Luis de Victoria: Caligaverunt oculi mei conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez
55:40: “De los alamos vengo madre” and the Falla concerto
56:40: Falla concerto, movement 1, performed by the composer
1:01:53: Falla concerto, movement 1, performed by Pedro Carbone and PCE
1:07:53: Soler and the Falla concerto
1:10:50: Falla concerto, movement 3, performed by Pedro Carbone and PCE
PART THREE:
4:24: “Triana” by Abeniz, transcribed/performed by Enrique Arbos
15:26: “Triana” performed by Pedro Carbone
25:46: Francisco Franco as “the elephant in the room”
32:07: “Rondena” by Albeniz, performed by Pedro Carbone